Kolkata: Scavengers and conservancy workers, who barely get noticed as they go about collecting trash from streets to ensure that the city can celebrate Durga Puja in a befittingly clean environment, have found recognition at a north Kolkata pandal where the theme focuses on how they live life and celebrate the festival.
The Durga Puja at Nalin Sarkar Street near the intersection of Grey Street and APC Road has in the past highlighted the lives of special children (2017) and those suffering from depression and addiction (2018).
“We wanted to celebrate the lives of those who don’t get any recognition but without whom we could not have celebrated the festival like the way we do. Tons of trash, including lakhs of plastic bottles, glasses and cups, are discarded on the streets by revellers. This primarily happens between 4 pm and 3 am when pandal-hopping peaks during the puja days. But before daybreak, all the trash magically disappears. The scavengers and conservancy workers do the cleaning. It is their lives that we have highlighted,” said Siddharth Sanyal, a member of the puja’s organising committee.
This year, their work will be even more challenging, particularly on Maha Ashtami morning as pushpanjali is scheduled between 5.45 am and 6 am.
“An improvised cycle van with mosquito net strung up around the deck to collect the trash will be showcased at the entrance, followed by two shanties where they live, the roadside tap from where they collect water, their belongings that are hung from the ceiling of the tenement in bundles... and finally the idol of Maa Sherawali, another form of Durga, that they worship,” said theme artist Pradipta Karmakar.